Oil drip sump and vaporizer for oil burners



April 18, 1967 c. v. COPELAND 3,314,607

OIL DRIP SUMP AND VAPORIZER FOR OIL BURNERS Filed July 15, 1965 INVENTORCHARLES V. COPELAND Z/mQ MM ATTORNEYS United States Patent Ofifice3,314,607 01L DRIP SUM? AND VAPORIZER FOR 0.1L BURNERS Charles V.Copeland, Fort Wayne, Ind, assignor to Wayne Home Equipment $0., Inc,Fort Wayne, Ind,

a corporation of lndiana Filed July 15, 1965, Ser. No. 472,193 4 Claims.(Cl. 239121) This invention relates generally to gun-type oil burners,and more particularly to novel means for collecting and vaporizing theoil which may drip from the nozzle following shut-down of the burner.

Conventional domestic gun-type oil burners, such as those employed forfiring home furnaces, commonly comprise a blower for supplyingcombustion air, a cylindrical blast tube connected to the blower, an aircone secured to the front end of the blast tube, an oil pump commonlydriven by the same motor as the blower, an oil line coupled to the pumpand extending axially through the blast tube, a nozzle connected to thefront end of the oil line within the blast tube and adjacent the frontend thereof, an ignition transformer, and ignition electrodes alsopositioned in the blast tube adjacent the nozzle and connected to thetransformer. Such guntype oil burners are installed with the blast tubeextending into the combustion chamber of the furnace. When such aconventional oil burner is shut down, and the pressure provided by thepump is thus removed from the oil line and nozzle, a small quantity ofoil will remain in the nozzle. Due to the ambient heat remaining in theregion of the nozzle immediately following shut-down of the oil burner,the oil remaining in the nozzle will expand, thus causing a few drops ofoil to ooze out of the nozzle which drip down onto the air cone. Theunderwriters have required the provision of an oil drain hole at thebottom of the air cone in order to drain this oil into the combustionchamber where it is vaporized. However, there are instances where,either through initial installation of the oil burner or some subsequentcause, the blast tube is inclined downwardly from the front end towardits rear end. In such instances, the oil which drips out of the nozzlefollowing shut-down of the burner may drain down the blast tube ratherthan through the oil drain hole in the air cone. in the case of an oilburner having a relatively long blast tube, the few drops of oil whichthus drain rearwardly down the blast tube may be completely vaporized bythe latent heat remaining in the blast tube. However, in the case of oilburners having a short blast tube, some of this oil may drain out of therear end of the blast tube, thus giving the appearance of an oil leak.This oil which drains down and out of the blast tube following eachshut-down of the burner not only is hazardous, but has created anillusive and frustrating problem for the service man; the inclination ofthe blast tube which causes this drainage may be hardly perceptible andthus the service man tends to spend an undue amount of time searchingfor the cause of a nonexistent oil leak.

It is, therefore, desirable to provide means for collecting andretaining any oil drip which tends to drain rearwardly down the blasttube so it may be vaporized. It is further desirable that such means bereadily installed on existing as well as newly constructed oil burnersand that it be characterized by its simplicity, ease of installation,and low cost.

It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide improved meansfor collecting and vaporizing oil which drips from the nozzle of agun-type oil burner following shut-down and which may tend to drainrearwardly down the blast tube.

In accordance with the invention, an oil sump and vaporizer member isprovided formed of relatively thin high heat-conductive metal. Thismember has front and rear ends and opposite side edges and is formed tobe arcuate between its side edges so as to conform to the inner surfaceof a cylindrical blast tube. The member is positioned in the blast tubeengaging the inner surface of the bottom portion thereof with its frontend adjacent the front end of the blast tube and extending rearwardlyfrom the air cone toward the rear end of the blast tube. The member hasa transverse wall formed at its rear end extending between the sideedges so as to form a dam for collecting and vaporizing any oil dripwhich may tend to drain rearwardly down the blast tube.

. The above-mentioned and other features and objects of this inventionand the manner of attaining them will become more apparent and theinvention itself will be best understood by reference to the followingdescription of an embodiment of the invention taken in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary side cross-sectional view showing the blasttube, air cone, nozzle and electrode assembly of a conventional oilburner equipped with the oil sump and vaporizer member of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view in perspective of the oil sump and vaporizer memberofthe invention; and

FIG. 4 is a front end view of the oil sump and vaporizer member of FIG.3.

Referring now to the figures of the drawing, there is shown aconventional cylindrical metal blast tube 10 of a conventional gun-typeoil burner having its rear end 12 adapted to be connected to ths blowerhousing (not shown) for delivering combustion air to the blast tube asis well known to those skilled in the art. A conventional air cone 14 isprovided secured to the front end 16 of the blast tube 10 in anysuitable manner, as by screw 18; in the illustrated embodiment, air cone14 has a cylindrical surface 20 which is received within the blast tube19 and a shoulder 22 extending radially outwardly from surface 24 toform a rabbet connection with the front end 16 of the blast tube 10. Aircone 14 has a front opening 24 through which the flame and thecombustion air is projected into the combustion chamber of the furnace.It will be readily understood that the forward portion of the blast tube10 and the air cone 14 extend into the combustion chamber. Air cone 14may be provided with conventional vanes 26 for imparting a swirlingmotion to the combustion air.

A conventional oil line 28 extends axially through the blast tube 10having its rear end 30 coupled in conventional fashion to the oil pump(not shown). A conventional nozzle adaptor 32 is threaded onto the frontend 34 of oil line 28 and in turn has a conventional nozzle 36 threadedtherein, nozzle 36 extending into the air cone 14, as shown. A pair ofconventional ignition electrodes 38, 40 are provided disposed adjacentnozzle 36 and respectively supported by conventional electrodeinsulators 42, 44 which also extend axially in the blast tube 10.Electrodes 38, 40 are suitably connected to the ignition transformer(not shown) of the oil burner by buss bars 46, 48. Oil line 28 with the:nozzle adaptor 32 and nozzle 36 connected thereto and the ignitionelectrode insulators 42, 44 are conventionally supported within theblast tube 10 by air stabilizer 50 which engages spaced points on theinner surface 52 of blast tube 10 and which may also have suitable vanes54 thereon for imparting an initial swirling motion to the combustionair.

As above-described, when the oil burner is shut down,

Patented Apr. 18, 1967" thus terminating operation of the pump connectedto the oil line 28, a small quantity of oil will remain in the oil line28, nozzle adaptor 32 and nozzle 36. Due to the latent heat of thecomponent parts and the ambient heat within the combustion chamberremaining immediately following shut-down of the oil burner, this smallquantity of oil will be caused to expand, thus causing a few drops ofoil to ooze out of the nozzle orifice 56 and drop onto the inner surface523 of the air cone 14. In order normally to drain these few drops ofoil into the combustion chamber for vaporization, air cone I4 isprovided with a drain hole 60 at the bottom as shown.

It will be readily understood that the blast tube, air cone, nozzle andelectrode structure thus far described is conventional and does not forma part of the present invention other than in combination with the noveloil sump and vaporizer member now to be described.

In accordance with the invention, an oil sump and vaporizer member 62 isprovided integrally formed of thin-gauge high heat-conductive metal,preferably alu minum. Member 62 has rear and front ends 64, 66 and sideedges 68, 70 and is arcuately formed between the side edges 68, 70 so asto conform to the curvature of the inner surface 52 of the blast tube10. Member 62 has a transverse Wall 72 formed at its rear end 64extending between side edges 68, 7t) and an out-turned flange 74 formedat its front end 66. Member 62 is positioned within blast tube It) inengagement with the inner surface 52 thereof with flange 74 overhangingfront end 16, member 62 thus being secured between the inner surface 52of blast tube 10 and the outer cylindrical surface of air cone 14 andflange 74 being secured between end 16 and shoulder 22 of air cone 14.The rear portion 76 of member 62 terminating in the Wall 72 thus extendsrearwardly from the rear end 78 of air cone 14, as best seen in FIG. 1.

It will now be seen that the transverse wall 72 of the member 62 forms adam so that if the blast tube It is inclined downwardly from its frontend 16 to its rear end 12, any oil which drips from orifice 56 of nozzle36 onto the inner surface 58 of air cone 14 following shutdown of theburner and which thus tends to drain down the blast tube 10 toward therear end 12 thereof will be collected and retained in the exposedportion 76 of member 62 Where it will be vaporized by the latent heatremaining in blast tube It and in member 62.

Since member 62 is formed of thin gauge metal, it will be seen that itmay be initially placed on the inner surface 52 of blast tube 10 withflange 74 overhanging end 16 and the air cone 14 then assembled onto theend 16 of the blast tube, engagement of the cylindrical surface 20 ofthe air cone 14 with the member 62 thus insuring heat-transferringengagement of the member 62 with the inner surface 52 of the blast tube10. It will further be seen that the oil sump and vaporizer member 62 ofthe invention may be inexpensively formed in a simple press operationand that it may readily be installed by an ordinary service man onexisting burners in the field, no special tools being required for suchinstallation; the

member 62 may be installed with equal facility during initial assemblyof the oil burner at the factory.

While there have been described above the principles of this inventionin connection with specific apparatus, it is to be clearly understoodthat this description is made only by way of example and not as alimitation to the scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a gun-type oil burner including a source of combustion air, acylindrical blast tube adapted to extend into a combustion chamber andhaving its rear end communicating with said air source, an air conesecured to the front end of said blast tube, a source of oil underpressure, an oil line extending axially through said blast tube andhaving its rear end connected to said oil source, and a nozzle withinsaid blast tube adjacent said front end thereof and connected to thefront end of said oil line, said air cone having an oil drainage openingformed in the bottom thereof for draining oil into said combustionchamber which may drip from said nozzle following shut-down of said oilburner; the combination with said blast tube and air cone of an oil sumpand vaporizer member formed of relatively thin high heat-conductivemetal, said member having front and rear ends and opposite side edges,said member being arcuate between said side edges and conforming to theinner surface of said blast tube, said member being positioned in saidblast tube engaging the inner surface of the bottom portion thereof withits front end adjacent the front end of said blast tube, said memberextending rearwardly from said air cone toward said rear end of saidblast tube, said member having a transverse wall formed at said rear endextending between said side edges thereby forming a dam for collectingand vaporizing said oil drip which may drain rearwardly in said blasttube.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said member has an out-turnedflange formed at its front end, said flange overhanging said front endof said blast tube.

3. The combination of claim 1 wherein said air cone has a cylindricalportion which is received within said blast tube engaging the innersurface thereof, and wherein said member is secured between said aircone cylindrical portion and said inner surface of said blast tube.

4. The combination of claim 1 wherein said air cone has a cylindricalportion which is received within said blast tube engaging the innersurface thereof and a shoulder extending radially outwardly from saidcylindrical portion forming a rabbet connection with said front end ofsaid blast tube, said member being integrally formed of thin gaugealuminum and having an outturned flange formed at its front end, saidmember being secured between said air cone cylindrical portion and saidinner surface of said blast tube, and wherein said flange overhangs saidfront end of said blast tube and is secured between the same and saidair cone shoulder.

No references cited.

EVERETT W. KIRBY, Primary Examiner.

1. IN A GUN-TYPE OIL BURNER INCLUDING A SOURCE OF COMBUSTION AIR, ACYLINDRICAL BLAST TUBE ADAPTED TO EXTEND INTO A COMBUSTION CHAMBER ANDHAVING ITS REAR END COMMUNICATING WITH SAID AIR SOURCE, AN AIR CONESECURED TO THE FRONT END OF SAID BLAST TUBE, A SOURCE OF OIL UNDERPRESSURE, AN OIL LINE EXTENDING AXIALLY THROUGH SAID BLAST TUBE ANDHAVING ITS REAR END CONNECTED TO SAID OIL SOURCE, AND A NOZZLE WITHINSAID BLAST TUBE ADJACENT SAID FRONT END THEREOF AND CONNECTED TO THEFRONT END OF SAID OIL LINE, SAID AIR CONE HAVING AN OIL DRAINAGE OPENINGFORMED IN THE BOTTOM THEREOF FOR DRAINING OIL INTO SAID COMBUSTIONCHAMBER WHICH MAY DRIP FROM SAID NOZZLE FOLLOWING SHUT-DOWN OF SAID OILBURNER; THE COMBINATION WITH SAID BLAST TUBE AND AIR CONE OF AN OIL SUMPAND VAPORIZER MEMBER FORMED OF RELATIVELY THIN HIGH HEAT-CONDUCTIVEMETAL, SAID MEMBER HAVING FRONT AND REAR ENDS AND OPPOSITE SIDE EDGES,SAID MEMBER BEING ARCUATE BETWEEN SAID SIDE EDGES AND CONFORMING TO THEINNER SURFACE OF SAID BLAST TUBE, SAID MEMBER BEING POSITIONED IN SAIDBLAST TUBE ENGAGING THE INNER SURFACE OF THE BOTTOM PORTION THEREOF WITHITS FRONT END ADJACENT THE FRONT END OF SAID BLAST TUBE, SAID MEMBEREXTENDING REARWARDLY FROM SAID AIR CONE TOWARD SAID REAR END OF SAIDBLAST TUBE, SAID MEMBER HAVING A TRANSVERSE WALL FORMED AT SAID REAR ENDEXTENDING BETWEEN SAID SIDE EDGES THEREBY FORMING A DAM FOR COLLECTINGAND VAPORIZING SAID OIL DRIP WHICH MAY DRAIN REARWARDLY IN SAID BLASTTUBE.